Jazz and Frankie moved in as he bent closer, all of them still hovering above ground, and explained his plan.
Impressed, Jazz pulled back and said, “Trev, that is brilliant!”
He seemed to preen, and she almost giggled but managed to restrain herself, and then a thought popped out. “Aren’t Fae committed to non-interference?”
“Yes, but there are exceptions, not for individual gain, but for the world as a whole, and now we have two worlds, yours and mine, at stake.” He bent and kissed Jazz’s nose. “Be ready when I bring you back …”
“Bring us back? Back from where?” The next thing she knew, she and Frankie were being thrust through a tube whose walls, which appeared to be made of a sticky material, checked their speed. Even so, suddenly, and while she still held onto Frankie’s hand, they were spat out like discarded chewing gum and found themselves rolling through a field of blue grass.
Blue grass? Jazz looked around with a sinking heart and then turned her gaze upward; the two suns only slightly obscured by clouds confirmed that Trevor had sent them into another dimension.
She closed her eyes and then opened them to shout, “Trevor, Prince of Lugh, I am so going to kill you!”
“Where are we?” Frankie asked as she stared at everything, wide-eyed.
“Evidently our Royal wants us temporarily out of the way. I’m guessing this is another dimension, one he must know is safe, so don’t worry, Frankie. We’ll be okay until he decides to fetch us back.”
“I never worry when I’m with you or the prince,” Frankie said and smiled warmly up at her.
Jazz gave her a hug, but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn’t believe he had done this.
He had agreed to let them help—and then, out of nowhere, poof, he had sent them off. She couldn’t tolerate this and would definitely tell him he had stepped out of bounds. Oh yeah, she was going to tell him all right.
Oooh, she silently seethed.
* * *
Prince Trevor turned back to the problem at hand. He knew he had just created another, but he also knew in the end his Jazmine Decker would understand. He smiled as he imagined her angry, lovely, furious eyes.
He then put up his hand and said in a voice that resonated with the voice of many, all of them Lugh ancestors, “You will stop or pay the consequences.” He was stalling for time. He didn’t need to request them to do a thing. In a moment, they would have no choice.
However, he had, in fact, distracted Baudali from his chanting. Hordly also turned his face to him, his countenance contorted with hatred.
Prince Trevor stomped towards the Dark Prince, brought himself face to face with him, and sneered as Hordly roared out his fury.
“Seelie Royal,” the Dark Prince yelled, “you are a fool if you think you can stop us—it is almost open.” He pointed at the mass of swirling debris inside a mouth no larger than five feet in circumference. It was a few feet off the ground, and Trevor could feel the force of its suction power. It did not look quite fully cooked, and it did not look inviting.
“Is it?” Trevor smirked at the Dark Prince. “Think again, Hordly.” Without warning he went into action, taking hold of the wizard with an invisible force that sent Baudali reeling into a dimension he had prepared for this moment.
Trevor did all this without taking his eyes from Hordly and said softly, “Want to try and get through me?”
Saying this, he immediately brought her and Frankie back through the sticky wormhole.
They landed lightly at his side, and he could see Jazmine Decker had a great deal to say to him. However, she made a face and said only, “Oh, ready for us now, huh?”
He laughed and said, “Now being the operative word. Now, just as we planned.”
In unison, Frankie called for her fireball and sent it hurtling at the Dark Prince while Jazmine Decker slammed him hard. He went flying backwards, reeled, stood up, and was hit by the fireball. He hissed filthy curses in a voice racked with pain, and Frankie held on tight to her arm. Trevor had not felt pain, only discomfort, which meant it did as he suspected work differently on Dark Fae, even Royal Dark Fae.
His girls, Trevor thought with a pride he had not thought he could feel. They had bought him the time he needed.
He touched Jazmine Decker’s nose because she had one more job to do, and he knew she was the only one who could do it. He sent her and Frankie into the Dark Prince’s barn.
This done, he turned to the startled Dark Prince, who was picking himself off the ground, and grinned as he chanted. His element, an element he had been preparing, was now at its peak. Water, a great deal of water, was ready for him now.
All at once a dark and ominous cloud appeared over the yawning time portal. The dark cloud descended and surrounded the portal.
Trevor gave the next command, and the cloud opened up and spewed forth a tsunami of rushing, foaming white water.